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Some Observations on the Law of Evidence
Slesinger, Donald Hutchins, Robert
Slesinger, Donald
Hutchins, Robert
Abstract
Spontaneous utterances, exclamations or declarations are, under certain conditions, admissible in evidence though the party who made them does not take the stand. According to most courts the occasion must be startling enough to cause shock, which in turn creates an emotional state. The utterance must be made under stress of that emotion; it must be "spontaneous and natural; impulsive and instinctive" it should be immediate, or "so clearly connected (with the occasion) that the declaration may be said to be the spontaneous explanation of the real cause.' " Although in some jurisdictions there is insistence that the declaration be "contemporaneous" with the act, or "while the act is going on," the progressive view seems to be that the time interval, beyond which a declaration would no longer be spontaneous, is in the sound discretion of the trial court. Thus, in one case, after a wreck the conductor came up to the engine, went back to the caboose, and then walked a mile to a telephone, where he consumed twenty-five minutes in calling headquarters. On his return to the train, while moving the injured to the caboose, he remarked that a defective rail had caused the disaster, and his statement was admitted in evidence as a spontaneous declaration. In other cases declarations made from a few seconds to fifteen minutes after the occurrence have been termed "mere narration of past events," and therefore excluded.